They are studying how new equipment affects syrup quality to whether tapping trees during January warm spells is productive.

"Sugarmakers are very interested in technology," said
Catherine Stevens
, a marketing specialist with the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association.

Sugarmakers know technology can make collecting and boiling sap easier, "but given the technology, they don't want to do anything that would impact negatively on the end product," Stevens said.

The
Proctor center
helps the industry determine what works best and what doesn't.

Sap flows from maple trees during the

early spring when there are cold nights and warm days. That sap is then boiled down to syrup.

One project at the Proctor Center has technicians
Mark Isselhardt
said Abby van
den Berg
studying a process that injects air into evaporators full of sap. The process is supposed to produce lighter colored syrup, which fetches higher prices.

"A point of pride for sugarmakers is to make the light syrup," Isselhardt said.

But many question whether the best flavor comes from light or dark syrup. To test the theory, Isselhardt boil saps in two evaporators, one of which has an aerator. Chemical tests will be run on the syrup, which will eventually be tested by a panel of experts.

Out in the Proctor center's sugarbush tests are being run to determine how often equipment like tree taps and plastic tubing should be replaced.

Others tests are trying to determine why chemicals called pyrazine compounds, which can hurt syrup flavor, are more prevalent some years than others and if anything can be done to keep the levels down.

"And why is it prevalent in some years and not others?" van den Berg said.